Governments ill-prepared for ‘imminent’ cyber attack
Cyber security experts are warning that international governments are not ready to face cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. Speaking to CNBC the chief executive of Kaspersky Labs, Eugene Kaspersky said that predicting the worst terrorist attacks of this kind is not easily predicted: “If we face this cyber-terrorism, it will be very unpredictable in a very unpredictable place, but with very visible damage. Unfortunately, there are many possible victims." Kaspersky says that governments should conduct audits of the infrastructure security noting that following some high-profile attacks on businesses the next targets could well be energy or communications networks. He says that a significant amount of budget needs to be allocated to deal with the risk and says that it’s technically possible to make infrastructure immune to attacks but that it will take time and money. Read the full story.
Businesses haven’t learnt lessons from 2013 floods
A new report from Canada reveals that despite the devastating impact of floods in 2013 many businesses are still not prepared for similar events. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce says that 40 per cent of those businesses that were directly affected by the floods still haven’t implemented risk management procedures such as off-site storage of critical documents, remote working practices and emergency communications strategies. The poll shows that 64 per cent of the city’s businesses had suffered some kind of interruption to their business in the last 12 months. While flooding disrupted a large number of businesses the report highlights that being prepared doesn’t mean being ready for one risk but having policies in place to deal with anything unexpected. Read the full report.
Insurers link earthquakes to fracking
The US Geological Survey will be including fracking sites in its maps of potential seismic activity, which are in turn used by insurers to assess rates in the area. In 2014 a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma was linked to fracking by the USGS with seismologist Elizabeth Cochrane noting: “The observation that a human-induced earthquake can trigger a cascade of earthquakes, including a larger one, has important implications for reducing the seismic risk from wastewater injection.” While fracking has been banned in many jurisdictions, or at least put on hold pending further investigation, the industry is booming in others including many in the US. See the USGC Hazard Maps.
